New Mexico Sees 77% Increase in Medical Marijuana Patient Enrollment

Since November 2016, New Mexico’s medical marijuana program has seen a 77-percent increase in patient enrollment. As of November 30, the state showed 45,347 patients compared to just 19,650 a year ago. This is the biggest increase in enrollment since the program began in 2007.

Some claim that the numbers reported are inaccurate as some “legacy data” has been removed from the database as reported in an Ultra Health press release, according to Las Cruces Sun-News. According to that press release, it claims that the state disenrolled thousands of patients in September and October. New Mexico Department of Health officials have said that enrollment adjustments have been made.

Andrea Sundberg of the NMDOH said, “The challenge we run into, as we’ve stated several times, is these reports keep having staggering changes in numbers. Last year we had a change of 5,000 active enrollees in a one month period that nobody could ever explain. Then last month (September 2017) we ran the report and the numbers by county and condition were different than the active count by over 7,000. These type of issues two years into the system are not appropriate and only lead to greater confusion about our valid data.”

Even with some potential reporting troubles, the patient enrollment rate has exceeded projections. The year-to-year numbers continue to show dramatic growth in enrollment. Before the end of 2017, the state fully expects to reach 50,000 registered medical marijuana patients.